Pill dispenser



Sept. 18, 1934. H. HAUCK I PILL DISPENSER Filed D60- 20, 1933 PatentedSept. 18, 1934 UNITED STATES.

PATENT OF F ICE 1 Claim.

either one or more pills as may be desired, and

which will dispense the pills in such a manner -that the remaining pillswithin the pill bottle will remain sanitaryand untouched.

A further object of this invention is to provide a pill dispenser thatmay be inserted into the end of an ordinary pill bottle and cooperatetherewith so as to dispense only a single pill at a time or such ameasured number of pills at one time as :may be the desired capacity ofthe dispenser.

A further object of this invention is to provide a sanitary pilldispenser, which will eliminate the objectionable practice of pouring anumber of pills into .ones hand in order to procure a limited numberofpills for immediate use, necessitating the returning of the remainingpills to the container and often contaminating them.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, p as will hereinafterbecome apparent, this invention comprises the constructions,combinations 0 and arrangements of parts, hereinafter set forth,

disclosed and shown on the accompanying drawing. .In thisdrawing,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the pill dispenser applied to a pillbottle,

,Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view r of the same clearlyillustrating the invention,.and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the pill dispenser.

.' There is shown at 10 the pill dispenser constituting this inventionand adapted to cooperate with a pill container such as the pill bottle11. The ordinary closure. or stopper member for the pill bottle 11 isdiscarded and instead the apertured stopper 12 is substituted therefor,this apertured stopper 12 having an aperture 13 therethrough to receivethe cylindrical tube 14 of the pill dispenser 10. The end of thecylindrical. tube 14 is closed off by a stopper or sealing member I 15secured on the arm 16 of the bell crank lever 17. The bell crank lever17 is pivoted as at 18 by means of a pair of wings 19 to a base 20secured on the side of the tube 14. The otner arm 21 of the bell cranklever 1'7 is normally held in the tube closing position 21 by means of a'compression spring 22 mounted between the arm 21. and the ,base 20.

A plunger 23 is secured beneath the arm 21 of bell crank 17 and has itsend extending into the aperture 24 through the base 20 and the side ofthe tube 14. This plunger 23 may be placed within the cylindrical spring22, thus additionally serving as a guidefor retaining'the spring 22 inproper position. a

The aperture 24 will be so spaced from the end of the tube 14 that therewill be room for the desired number of pills 25 between the aperture 24and the end of the tube. Preferably this desired number will be a singlepill 25, although if desired it may be made any desired number.

In operation, the tube is normally held closed by the stopper 15 beingpressed against the end ,of the tube 14 by means of compression spring22. When it is desired to dispense a pill from the container 11, the arm21 is pressed from the position 21' to the position 21. This causes theplunger 23 to move through the aperture 24 until its end is in the pathof the pill 25 in the tube 14, preventing any pills from passing thispoint.

Previous to this action however the container 11 has been up-ended tothe position shown in Figures 1 and 2, allowing a pill to pass beyondthe aperture 24 and rest against the'closure member 15. As the arm 21 isdepressed the closure member 15 moves away from the closure posi- 5tion, allowing the pill-25 already past the aperture 24 to droptherefrom.

If additional pills are desired the arm 21 is released and allowed toreturn to the position 21' and is again depressed to dispense yetanother pill, this action being repeated until the desired number ofpills have been dispensed. As a result of this the pills 25 remaining inthe bottle or. container 11 are untouched and not handled until it isdesired to make use thereof, 5 thereby preventing contamination of thepills before they are to be used.

The novel features and the operation of this device will be apparentfrom the foregoing description. While the device has been shown and thestructure described in detail, it is obvious that this is not .to beconsidered limited to the exact form disclosed, and that changes may bemade therein within the scope of what is claimed without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, whatis claimed is:

A pill dispenser adapted to cooperate with a pill container, comprisingan apertured closure no member adapted to close the mouth of the pillcontainer, a cylindrical tube extending through said apertured closureinto said pill container to receive pills therein at one end thereof,-and a closure means at 'the other end of said tube preventing more thana measured number of pills to pass thereby at one time, said closuremeans comprising a'bell crank lever mounted on the end of said cylinder,a stopper and sealing memher on one arm of said bell crank adapted toclose the, end of said tube, a spring between the other arm of said bellcrank and said tube adapted to normally hold said stopper member in.closing position, and a tube cut oft plunger secured to said other armof said bell crank and adapted to project into said tube, said plungerher to drop from the end member being spaced from said stopper andsealing member a distance substantially equal to the diameter of thedesired number of pills to be dispensed at one time, whereby when saidstopper and sealing member is in closing position the desired number ofpills'may enter the tube between said closure member and the path ofsaidlplunger member, and when said other arm of said bell crank is movedtowards the tube the closure'member is withdrawn from the end of thetube and the plunger member is simultaneously projected into the paththrough said tube allowing the measured number of pills between theclosure member and the plunger memof the tube. HERBERT HAUCK.

